שִָׁי
HOW IS THIS NIGHT DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER NIGHTS? TISH’ AH B’ AV AND PASSOVER
Rabbi Robert Scheinberg
Mah nishtanah ha-laylah hazeh mikol haleylot?“ How is this night different from all other nights?”
A clever paytan( liturgical poet) from several hundred years ago built a kinah, a lamentation poem for Tisha b’ Av, around this refrain that is so familiar from the Passover Seder, in order to point out the many connections and contrasts between Tisha B’ Av and Passover.
We make the Seder different from every other night, with special foods, special recitations, and an atmosphere of celebration, in order to call dramatic attention to the moment when we became free. The grief-ridden night of Tisha B’ Av is also unique in its own way. And the Jewish calendar is designed such that the night of the Ninth of Av always falls on the same day of the week as the first Passover Seder.
Tisha B’ Av can be seen as the undoing of all the successes of Passover. If Passover tells the story of our journey from oppression to freedom, Tisha B’ Av tells the story of our return from freedom back to subjugation and oppression.
Yet another Tisha B’ Av kinah, Esh Tukad Be-Kirbi, also calls upon this connection between Tisha B’ Av and Passover. This poem has a repeating structure with alternating refrains: we read a phrase that evokes the story of the Exodus, followed by the words“ be-tzeiti mi-mitzrayim,”“ when I left Egypt.” Then we read a parallel phrase that evokes the sadness of destruction, followed by the words“ be-tzeiti mi-
י ר ָא ז: example y’ rushalayim,”“ when I left Jerusalem.” For
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